(Or Why Blogging Is Just Another Way To Go Straight To Hell In A Handbasket)

Pretty much every blogger who keeps at it for a while makes the inevitable "Why I blog" post. I figure, now that I've been blogging for over a year, my own motives have become sufficiently clear to me. When I first started this blog, back in April 2004 (the original incarnation, believe it or not, is still alive) I'd intended it to be a description of hilarious anecdotes about the writing life. Then, briefly, it became a linkdump combined with spectacularly unfunny anecdotes about the writing life. Then, it went through all sorts of phases and changes before reaching the present state you see here before you. The reasons I've ended up where I am (blog-wise, at least) are rather varied, but of great importance, nonetheless.

So, for what it's worth, here are the motivations behind this blog. This is why I blog:

Pride: What better way to massage one's ego than to prattle on about things important to you (sometimes only to you) and have people read about it? Really, though, I have an addiction to checking my hit counter. I love the attention.

Envy: Reading some of the big blogs around the net (Scalzi's Whatever, for example) and seeing all of their adoring fans, well, I just had to start up a blog myself.

Wrath: Where else but a blog can you air your personal feelings of hatred towards a specific group of people? I've done it before, to all the teenagers who tYpE eVeRyThInG lIkE tHiS.

Sloth: Isn't idleness and procrastination the whole point of having a blog?

Avarice: You know, I do have a link to where you can buy my book in the menu. C'mon people, I'm a starving university student.

1. David Mead - World of a King: A fun, poppy tune to start things off.

2. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic: The title track from the album that inspired my latest work.

3. The Hiss - Brass Tacks: Heabanging garage rock.

4. Hawksley Workman - Autumn's Here: A slow, reflective tune with a great horn section near the end.

5. Better Than Ezra - Sincerely, Me: BTE was cool back in the post-grunge days of the mid-90s. Since then, their material has been fairly eclectic. Here, they take on pop-punk and do a fantastic job of it.

6. Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julie: An amazingly fun and upbeat pop tune from the guys who sang about Stacy's Mom.

7. Jeremy Fisher - Singing on the Sidewalk: Another fun, laid-back pop song from a guy who toured across Canada on his bike.

8. Louis XIV - Hey Teacher: Equal parts garage and glam rock.

9. Matthew Good - Generation X-Wing (Acoustic Version): This one may be Good's best ballad, which is no small praise.

10. The New Pornographers - The Jessica Numbers: I know, I already did one of their songs, but I've been listening to a lot of this band.